Resolutions... and a surprise!

So... 2021 didn't explode in its first week? I'm willing to call that a win.

So, what am I hoping to talk about today? Well, I think I'll talk about my resolutions for one more week. 

Normally, I would have a general idea of what I want to do for my resolutions by the first of January, even if I haven't set anything in stone. This year... it almost felt like I didn't want to jinx it by planning too far ahead. And while I think I still won't be planning the entire year with any exactness, I do like having an idea of where I'm going. 

First, while I love staying home and writing, I think I need to get back out in the world. Last year I stopped looking for a job around February... a mix of pandemic and no jobs miring me at home. Now, it looks as though some of the job market might be returning, so I'm going to go back to setting one day a week and doing nothing but sending out dozens of resumes and looking over the job market in general.  Personally, I'd love to see some sort of universal basic income but I'm not holding my breath for one. 

Second, I will still be writing, even if I get a job. So, my writing goals for the first quarter are to finish editing Fox's Facade and send the book on to my editor and betas. I want to publish Fox's Facade tentatively during the summer, so I'll play with that and see where it goes with an update at the end of the first quarter. 

Third, I am moving the "get healthier" option from last year to this year. Most of it will be a mix of RingFit and the Switch boxing game. Maybe not every day, but almost every day. I will be looking for healthier food options as well, but changing everything all at once doesn't work, so it will be little bits at a time, hopefully leading to a healthier me at the end of the year. 

Finally, I will be starting a Youtube channel and maybe a Twitch channel... though I'm not sure about Twitch just yet. I am going to be reading my novel, Hunter's Gambit, chapter by chapter for you guys, hopefully, one chapter each week. And because I've always wanted an online avatar, I've created one to use! I will definitely be posting my novel reading to Youtube, but let me know if you would like me to start a Twitch channel, as well. I could easily read the novel out and then have a question and answer period, if that would interest anyone, and then put out better-edited audio on Youtube later. Then again, I think Youtube has a live function as well, so really just let me know. I'm not sure exactly what week it will begin, but it will be soon! I'm just testing out programs right now and seeing whether my current equipment will work for this purpose before I put it out. I should have pictures to show you of my character by next week!

Let me know what you think about the Youtube vs Twitch debate and I'll keep you all informed. 

Come At Me, Bro!

Yesterday, I finished the read-through of my novel. All of the big plot issues have been fixed, but I still have a lot of work to do on it. Three to four scenes need to be added and I may need to rewrite one or two chapters to give them to other characters for balance. That said, I've already fully finished editing chapter one and I can't wait to get more time to work on it in the next few days. 

Part of the reason I'm so excited to work on it is because Kitsune-ken book 5 isn't coming together like I want it to yet. Truly, procrastination is an incredible tool. It is perfectly happy editing Fox's Facade or happily daydreaming about book 6 (which is essentially completely plotted at this point). Book 5 on the other hand is stuck at, "um, well it starts here and then maybe they go here, but I don't know why... I guess maybe they could go... um, well they need to end up over there, at any rate". Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly... I do have a full map and a reason they're heading there... I just don't have anything solid yet for that in-between part.  

I've considered other fixes (writing book 6 first, just editing this Nanowrimo, taking up drinking, etc) but I know those are all procrastination fixes and that won't help anybody. 

Instead, I'm going to have to do something I have only ever done once before; dive headfirst into the darkness in front of me, knowing only that my finish point is somewhere ahead. Much like a game of Don't Starve, I'll have nothing on me when I start the journey other than the desire to survive. I'll have to make my own tools and carve my path with the bits and pieces I find on the way. 

Fortunately, this isn't my first rodeo... Lord's Curse started with only a bit more than that. In the end, you all said that it might even be better than the first book. So, yeah, I know I can do this. 

Come at me, Nano. I'm ready.

Fall is When I Fall Down

... from exhaustion that is. 

Okay, I'm joking on falling and being exhausted, but I am moving into my busiest season of the year. The fall season starts in September for me and doesn't end until usually December (though last year it lasted until February). 

It is not only when all the new shows I'm waiting for come out (this year, RWBY Season 8 is coming out, as well as Inuyasha's successor, Yashahime or Princess Half-Demon are the ones I'm most eager for, though only until Log Horizon, Season 3 is finally released in January) but its also the month-long drawing challenge I most wait for. And even if I ignore that all important challenge, I can't forget about planning for Nanowrimo. This year, I'm hoping to start writing book five of the Kitsune-Ken series and while I have an idea for the plot, it is nowhere near realized enough for me to start yet. 

One of my favourite digital pictures so far. Please, do not expect this quality during October. This took me a stupid amount of time to do.

On the other hand, I am really looking forward to it. I really like being busy, even if it does mean I end up feeling like I'm burning the candle at both ends to get everything done. Especially when that busyness comes with Nanowrimo and art. It pushes me to my edge, but I do some of my best work when I'm pushing everything out. I even have the lofty goal of trying to plan out the rest of the Kitsune-Ken series this October, at least, generally. An idea of what story will be told each book and what to look forward to. 

And with that update, I'm going to run. I want to get started on that backlog. I don't want to keep you guys waiting for Fox's Facade any longer than I need to. 

An Unfortunate Tweet

Camp Nano has been one heck of a journey for me this year. Normally, my editing takes the process of reading my book, assembling it in the correct order, and editing page by page from there. However, when I was working with my new editor on my last book, I found a new way. I went over the book and wrote what each chapter was, put them on post-it notes and stuck them inside my notebook while I played around with it. It helped me to really see where I was missing plot points and make sweeping changes if needed from a top-down approach that my old way of working wouldn't have allowed. I decided to see if it helped me with editing this next book. 

I should start by saying I knew it had problems. I was expecting a lot of rewrites. However, I was not expecting this method to show me that my entire plot was wrong and needed to be rewritten essentially. And I'm only exaggerating a little when I say that. I just finished the top-down overview and I have 17 chapters that are listed as "rewrite from scratch"... there could be more by the end of this pass, but that's what I'm working with now. 

Despite that daunting number, I'm actually pretty hopeful. Fox's Facade was a really difficult book to write in the first place. It was going a few different places, but at the time, I don't think I was a good enough writer to anticipate what exactly it would need. Regardless of the actual reason, I think the way I have restructured the plot will work a lot better now. I began rewrites a few days ago. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to do them. I'd like to have the edits out to my beta readers by September, if possible, though I'll have to see how my editing is going before I set that as the goal. 

That finished, I'd like to talk about a tweet that was posted earlier this week. 

This tweet from @dntmakeitworse to be exact. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, I'm sure you know how false this is. Yes, women tend to be overlooked in publishing. I'm not saying that isn't a problem. I've read the story all too many times about fans walking up to female authors and thanking them for writing under a pseudonym or their initials. "I never would have picked up your book if I'd known a woman wrote it" is something that all too many have heard. 

That said, while I think this was what the tweeter was trying to convey, they are horribly wrong. Even leaving aside solid staples such as Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Anne McCaffery, and Agatha Christie, there are hundreds of others. Margaret Atwood, Harper Lee, Ursula K. LeGuin, Baroness Orczy... this isn't even counting that the first novel in the world was written by a woman; my personal hero of Murasaki Shikibu, the lady-in-waiting who wrote The Tale of Genji. 

If you think women haven't always been there, doing the same things men were, you are sorely mistaken. Our tale often isn't told; the women warriors of Shaka Zulu's armies, the female samurai of Japan, the women of Scotland trained to defend the homestead when the men were away. 

And that I think is where I'll end it today. Let me know who your favorite female author as a kid was. Personally, I will also hold a place in my heart for Anne McCaffery. I loved her story of psychics, dragons, and cats. 

All Quiet... on just about every front

It's been a great week. Even with the weather bringing more migraines, my way. Why? Well, my second editing job came in and I got an inquiry from a third person. If it keeps going like this, I'm going to have to rearrange my working schedule. Which, honestly, is a great reason to make a change. Also, working on development edits like this feels very natural. I wouldn't mind taking a course to brush up on my other grammar so I could offer line edits as well. It's something that I'm going to be keeping in mind as I move forward. It would be nice to keep working from home.

Other than that, I have been working on my writing. I am about 2 chapters further on book four than I was before and I'm nearing the end. Maybe 10k more and it should be done. I haven't gotten my novel back from my editor yet, but I should have it by the weekend. After that, I'll be putting in my order for my cover. Of course, that means that I've been working on my back cover copy. This is literally my least favorite part of writing. Its all technical writing and it uses a different set of skills than writing a novel does. I have gone over this thing nearly 3 dozen times, playing with word choice here and there, tweaking and tweaking. I've got something I like... But I know I'm still going to have to go over it a few more times before it's finished.

In slightly more global news, some parts of Canada are looking to opening up again. This would be good news for most people as life could return to normal. Alberta isn't one of them yet, but we are keeping ourselves inside and safe, so hopefully, it will be soon. I hope all of you have more freedom coming to your areas soon as well.

That's it for me today. Hopefully, I'll have good news with my update next week.

Woot! I have my first paid job!

This week, I am still waiting for my novel. It isn't late yet, but I can't wait to find it. I have finally started writing on my novel again. I think I finished another 4k and then got a paid editing gig from Fiverr, so now I'm working on that. While I can't talk about the actual job, I can talk about the task of actually doing it.

I think I've mentioned before that I really love doing developmental edits. I have done this three or four times now and I love it every time. One of my favourite things to do is looking at books and trying to think about how to fix them. It frustrates the heck out of my husband because I'll tend to do it while watching movies, too. I remember watching Moana in theatres with him and getting to the part where she hands Maui the Heart so he can return it. Within seconds I was excitedly whispering to my hubby that this clearly couldn't be the end battle of the movie since Moana is the character that needs to change and grow, not Maui. My husband grumbled since he prefers leaving the retrospection to the end if at all possible. Heck, I like figuring out stories so much that I've taken courses specifically on understanding how good stories work.

This doesn't mean that I don't think my editor isn't useful. It is, after all, a truth, rarely acknowledged outside of the writing community, that you are always too close to your own story to judge it correctly. The Rules of Being an Evil Overlord, #5, states "One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that they are able to spot will be corrected before implementation." Like that evil overlord, everyone needs somebody to cough slightly to gain your attention and then tell you kindly but firmly what your problem spots are and why they are causing problems in your draft.

Anyways, that is what I'm doing this week. I'm hoping to finish it before my editor sends me my manuscript because it will kill me to not be able to work on it immediately. I am super excited to do so!

Taking a Week for me

This will be a very short post, so I'm apologizing in advance. My tendinitis snuck up on me this year and took me out this week. I'm under strict orders to rest my wrists, which means no writing or drawing for a few days. Which is sad, but since it happens at least once a year, I'm kinda used to it, even if I hate it. 

I will say that I and my family and friends are all okay and no one has caught Covid-19. My husband and I are self-isolating as much as we can. That means I'm staying at home and my husband (whose job is essential and therefore can't) goes to work and then comes straight back home.

I'll leave you with blessings that your family remains safe as well, remind you to isolate yourselves as well as you can, and I'm hoping that I'll be back, better than ever, next week. 

Personally, I suggest reading during your self-isolation to keep yourself entertained. It's about all I can do, since holding a mouse hurts too, which throws Don't Starve right out of the running. Oh, here's a WIP of my latest drawing. It isn't finished because of my wrist, so I'll post it again when it is done. There are a few things I still need to fix in the sketch (mainly connected to the head placement) and the colors aren't quite right yet. Aside from that, I quite like where it's going. What do you think?

Storytime - "We are smarter than I will ever be"

Okay guys, today we're talking writing, some storytime and how I fix my plots.

Research can be impossible sometimes. Normally for any rough draft, I'll find the information I need by doing a 5-click google search. This is something that was suggested by a Nanowrimo participant at one point. The general idea is as simple as it sounds. When you need to research something, you go to Google and put in your question. The catch is that you're only allowed 5 pages total. If you can't find what you need in those clicks, you put a little question mark on your page, describe what the heck you need to research and that's as good as it gets until you start editing.

Today, I hit a point where my research met my plot though, and I jumped into Google, trusting the 5-click google search to solve it. I needed, specifically, to know how people in the middle ages or Roman era would have tested the purity of water. Unfortunately, a 5-click search told me that they tested the purity of water by using sight, scent, taste, and temperature. However, beyond mentioning those things, they didn't explain it at all. And in my book, the thing they're looking for is tasteless, scentless and clear when dissolved in water.

I'm in a rough draft, which meant that I'd put in the earlier plot point, "test water". Unfortunately, I couldn't leave an entire chapter for editing that says "figure out how to test the water and show them testing it". This had now become a plot point. I needed to know this since it directly affects the plot. Unfortunately, partially because Google is a computer that does not know me and partially because I had a headache that was making it difficult to work (I can be honest) I couldn't find what I needed.

Obviously not a picture of me and my friend, but it works in this context. 

Then, while talking to a friend, it suddenly occurred to me that they might have the answer I needed. They are a chemist, by training and inclination and while I understand the basics of chemistry (that was a science I took in school and did reasonably well in), they naturally understood way more than I did. This all goes back to one of my favourite phrases on writing; "WE are smarter than I will ever be."

Of course, my friend didn't have the information right off the bat. I had to talk him through my problem, tell him why I couldn't use certain easier fixes and other ways to do it. But within about twenty minutes, we'd figured out what I needed and how to solve the mystery of my plot. I love the idea of what's going down, even if I still have to write it to figure out all of the exact ins and outs of how it starts happening.

It may be books away before you get to experience everything I'm working on, of course, but I can already tell that this information is going to make my book way better than what I could have come up with alone. And in the end, you getting the best book you can is the most important part, right?

Chibify Me!

Okay, I'm no longer in a decadent pool of laziness. Which honestly is good. I can only sit around doing nothing all day for a short time before I'm bored. Unless I'm playing Don't Starve. I have lost days to Don't Starve when I was working for the Co-operators and I was on a weeklong vacation. 

The Don't Starve binge itself only lasted a day or so past the last post. I am still being a bit lazy though... I'm only working on about 3 hours a day right now, but I am cleaning and doing everything else, so I'm calling it a good start. 

Most of my office is finished. I have a desk-full of odds and ends to find homes for, some art supplies to get rid of, and a stupidly large amount of card decks to find homes for (I buy them for the pictures and because I like playing solitaire and other card games). Also, I haven't even been able to start on my closet yet. That said, its really coming along. 

I started writing again a few days ago and have finished 3 chapters in Noble's Choice so far. I remember where the plot is going, have reworked things that weren't working well in my original draft and streamlined the plot. Originally one of the characters was supposed to be a very important villain, for example, and now he's just a distracting sub-villain. The story is coming together though, which I love. I want my rough draft finished before the end of March. 

I have also talked to my editor. She is expecting that it will probably take a month to get Lord's Curse back to me, so I'll be spending Camp Nanowrimo (April) making one last round of changes before we can start on the final proofreading edits. 

The other update I have is in my art. I jokingly mentioned that I wanted to draw a Chibi-Me and a Koi playing Don't Starve Together. While I had a picture of a koi, I didn't really have a chibi of me lying around. So I drew this one. 

I'm not 100% happy with it yet. There is something about the shape of the eyes that seems off to me and I want to work on the hair more. That said, I am very pleased with it. Its the level of detail I want and she is adorable AF. I dressed her in my favourite outfit, a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. You can't see it, but she is totally wearing a comfy tank top under the sweater. Also, I had to give her ears and a tail. Because I can. 

What do you think of her? Have any of you ever drawn your own Chibi-Me? 

So Close

I can practically taste the victory already. 50,000 words are just ahead of me.

I'm currently on track with 46,694 words. Depending on how early I finish writing this, I may have time to get in more before midnight. Which does mean that I'll be keeping this short.

The story is going swimmingly. I just got into the middle. All of the villains have been introduced and all of the major incidents have been shown. All of my characters have been having their chance to stand in the sun, and I've even introduced a new viewpoint pov character. I discussed the plot over with my husband and I am brimming with ideas to bring all bits of the story together at the end. I'm expecting the rough draft to sit at 75k-80k when done and 50k of that should be finished by the first.

I'd like to have it finished before I start editing Lord's Curse, but I'll have to see when that gets back to me. I have a deadline as soon as the story is back in my hands so that deadline will be the priority though. I'd rather get the second book ready to send to you than make sure that book 4 is roughly finished. I should be ordering the cover soon, I'm expecting sometime in the next few weeks so hopefully, I'll have a reveal coming out to you sometime in January or February.

And that is all that I think I got for you this time around. Until next week, keep reading!

Lord's Curse is Out of my Hands & a new Stylus is in!

First, I am sorry that this post is coming your way late. I was so eager to begin writing last night that I worked straight until midnight and then started writing. I only realized that it was Friday morning when I crawled into bed. On the other hand, I actually have updates for you! 

On Monday, I finally finished my draft of Lord's Curse. I sent it that morning to my editor, but I don't have an expected date back from her yet. As soon as I know more there you'll get an update as well. Either way, as soon as I have it back I will be working on it. At that point, Nano will become me working on Nanowrimo during the day and the edit of that book during my evenings. 

Still, I am amazingly excited to have finished it finally. 

The other bit of amazingness for me is that my husband picked up the stylus that I have been wanting for a year. Why is this cool, I can practically hear you asking. Styluses are a dime a dozen, essentially. And in most cases, you're entirely right. But this is the Windows Stylus, specifically geared towards use with their Surface Pro systems. Which is what I have. The stylus essentially makes it so that your Surface Pro can be used as a drawing tablet, with all the layers of sensitivity, pen tilt and functionality built right into most programs, you can now use your pen to, as they put it on their site, 'Think with Ink'. For me, it turns my Surface Pro5, which I've been using for my mobile needs into an actual drawing tablet for me. The last time I tried to draw on a tablet like this, it was with less than optimal tools and I got a much less than optimal result. 

This picture was my first attempt with subpar tools.
While it wasn't horrible, it was also very bad.
There was a lot that I couldn't figure out how to do,
and in the end I gave up entirely on shading since
everything was wrong with it and I just wanted to try
it again from the beginning.

This was my second with the subpar tools. And while it was a marked improvement, it still wasn't quite what I would have been able to accomplish on paper with more traditional tools.
Actually, I have an urge to redraw it using my new tools as an example of improvement to myself. Perhaps I'll add that to my list of tasks in December. 

I could have made it work obviously, but it wasn't anything like working on paper and I found it irritating. However, working with the new pen and the Concepts app, I have not only really enjoyed the results, but I have also enjoyed the process of making them. Also, I've never really liked the way most programs deal with their colours, and so to have the colours in it listed and matching the Copic colours, which I already use is great. It makes it easy for me to choose colours and decide exactly what I need to add. 

This was my first drawing attempt with the new stylus. Trying to figure out blending was killing me, but I loved the feel of drawing with it. Also, I clearly need to work on drawing hair more often. Those buns are hilariously bad. Still, as a first digital try, I really loved the potential.

This was my second drawing. While I still can't say that the bun is any better, I do like the shading in the hair and on the face and skin. I really found myself reaching for tools not available with the free program while playing with this; specifically the lasso and copy/move tools. Its why I'll be picking up the full copy when I have a job again.

And I think that will be it for this week. Let me know what you think of the drawings. Also, are you taking part in Nanowrimo? What is your word count so far? I've had a slow start. Day 1 gave me a migraine that wouldn't quit, which led to me only getting 1055 words for my first day. 

Business Planning

The worst thing about September is that the cool weather starts coming in and when you're already stressed, you catch bugs every week or so. Last week, I caught a minor one that didn't do much more than kill my concentration. This week, I caught something that has taken me out for two days.

Thus, I'm a bit behind on my numbers. To get back on track, I'm updating my business plan for the next four days.

I have mentioned my business plan, yes? Basically, it's just me writing down what my goals are for the year. I write them in loose strokes, and the closer I get, the more I refine them. This month, my goal is 15,000 words, 1 short story, 8 blog posts and quite a lot of editing, 4 short stories and my novel.

As I mentioned I'm a bit behind on my writing, 2,301 words worth, as of this morning. I have finished my short story of the month, a little vignette for my husband called Nala's Tale, a story about one of his characters slaves in our Pathfinder (evil) game. So, I have just over 4k to do, in four days. Even sick, I can try to do 1,000 a day. The whole reason for leaving my current daily word count at 500 is so that if I fall a bit behind, I can still play catch up, after all.

On the blogging front, I have only completed five blog posts, if you count this one, which is a bit short of the eight I wanted. On the other hand, I should get one more this month and that will bring it up to six. Still lower than I'd like, so I'll have to try harder for next month.

The last thing on my business plan is editing. Normally, I try to separate out editing months and writing months, but I decided to put the two together this month and see how it worked out. The first thing on my list was editing my novel. I'm not done it, but since only one person has gotten back to me with comments so far, I'm taking that off my list and will move it into October. The other editing I wanted to get done was four short stories, I have looked over 2 of them and am halfway through editing one. Both of the other ones I looked at need a nearly complete rewrite, which may become a task for next month, but I should be able to finish the one story I'm halfway done before the end of the month.

So, what have I learned? Well, mostly that I need to either up my word count, or lower my editing amount, while I figure out how to increase my speed. Part of that speed will come as I do it more often. Part of that will be higher when my tendinitis isn't acting up and I don't have any sick days. However, I prefer to leave room in my plan for life to butt its nose in and mess everything up. It saves me from some of the guilt of not meeting goals since at least some of it(like my novel not being edited) was really beyond my control.

Do you have monthly goals? How do you keep track of them?

A Response To Why I Write

          A friend of mine, Kate Larking, blogged earlier this week at Anxiety Ink, talking about why she writes. At the end of her blog (which I totally suggest you check out), she asked what our reason for writing was. It reminded me that it's very important to know why you write, even if your answer is only, "I like to."

          Personally, I write first and foremost, because I enjoy it. Writing is frustrating, but I apparently like frustrating things. Just look at who I married if you want a real world example. (Okay, so most of you don't know him... it's a context joke. Just laugh, trust me on this one.) I would like to say that I could stop writing if I wanted to, but I would be lying. I can give it up and distract myself with other things I enjoy, but I always go back to writing, so yeah, I don't think I could stop if I wanted to.  I write because when I write I am happier. If you want to see what I look like when I'm not writing, just look at how I am when I'm not able to work on my books.

Nanowrimo's Key to Creativity that I received for supporting their recent site upgrades by donation.

          Friends have pointed out to me that I choose everything, from my jobs to my technology choices, around what I require for my writing and that I essentially am always working on my stories in my head, even while working or doing other jobs. There is always some part of my mind working on it. I study writing, words and story and each year go to at least one convention to learn more. I also usually take part in a variety of online writing courses, purchasing the Great Courses audio books on the subject when I can't.

          The thing that surprised me to realize this year was that I have nothing in there about publishing. I have changed my life for my writing, but that does not mean that I have to publish. To be satisfied with my life, I don't need to ever publish. Sharing my writing with my friends is and will always be enough for me, even if I dream of more than that.

          I don't know about you, but there is something very freeing about that.

My Top Ten Tips for Writing

Oh, I almost forgot! I gave a presentation on my top ten writers tips for ARWA with a few of the other awesome ladies there. The girls at the meeting loved my list (as well as some of my turns of phrase) and I figure my tips can only help you achieve more words during Nanowrimo, especially since week two blues may start setting in this week.

Top Ten Tips for Writing

     1. Read. Watch TV. Go see a movie. Interact with the stories you see being told by critiquing what was done well and what was done poorly in each. By interacting with the stories others have crafted, you’ll learn a lot not only about how to construct a good story as well as what sort of stories are being told right now, but you’ll also learn about your own style of writing.

      

     2. For each new book, figure out when you work best. I’ve had novels that only seemed to flow if I was working on them at 2 am in the afternoon and others where getting to work 45 minutes early (around 6am) could earn me 1500 words a day. Don’t expect to always write at the same time for every novel. Circumstances change; your writing should be flexible enough to change with them.

     3. Similarly, figure out where you write best for each novel. Do you write best at home? At work? Headphones on but no music? In a public place, like a coffee house or restaurant? Each novel will draw on different inspirations. Keeping your muse amused is your best bet for writing without issue.

  

     4. When issues do arrive, take time away from your keyboard. Slamming your head against the keys, forcing it, just makes for bad writing. Try to write past it. If it doesn’t work, call a friend, head for coffee or a walk and let your mind dwell on it for a while.

     5. Also, remember your friends when you’re writing. ‘We’ are smarter, wiser and more intelligent than you will ever be on your own. I can’t even imagine how many times I’ll be 100% stumped and blocked, told my husband about it and had him provide a perfect way out for the characters. Use your friends and family whenever you need help.

     6. Find a writing program you enjoy and use it. If Scrivener helps you write, use it. If Word is your thing, go for it. If you need a typewriter in a dark room, lit by candles, it's still valid. Whatever you use, find out about its ins and outs, tips and tricks, so that you can concentrate on your story when you sit down, not the program or technology you’re using to write it.

       7. Writing is hard. Don’t berate yourself over it. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s(Que Baz Luhrmann’s Wear Sunscreen). Seriously, though, allow yourself to make mistakes. Especially for people who don’t plan every detail of their novels in advance, sometimes a mistake can lead your story not only back on track, but to an even better place than you’d originally thought.

     8. Find a friend to keep you on task. However, a critical component of this is having something that you need to keep them on task for as well. Whether it's writing, chores, or something equally unpleasant. Otherwise, every time your friend turns to you and asks, you’ll feel like it’s a nag and that isn’t fun or motivating.

     9.  Patricia Briggs once said that every writer needs a good 'Mike'. In a specific sense, she means her husband Mike, but in a less specific sense, she’s still entirely right. Her husband edits her work, keeps her on task, takes care of her when she’s writing, and can’t take care of herself. He keeps their web page active, keeps track of their online shipping, and does all the heavy lifting and carrying for her when they travel to conventions and the such for work. Whether your ‘Mike’ is a husband, wife, good friend, or family member, there may be many like it, but that one will be yours.

      10. You can polish shit writing into gold. Trust me, I’ve done written the dullest of turds before. But you can’t edit an empty page. If you are writing and it isn’t working, you have just learned one way, not to write this scene. You have still learned something and you can apply that lesson to all of your future works.

    

Busy

          And not just Nanowrimo busy either, though of course there's that as well. In addition to Nanowrimo, I have my novel that I'm trying to finish so that I can send it to my editor, and I applied for a new position at work (during November, I know, I'm a writer, of course, I'm insane). Fortunately, having taken time off means that I was able to keep myself on track the last few days. I have one last person (my husband, actually), fulfilling his Mike-ly duties and helping me to edit my book (please note: He's awesome for doing it and I love the fact that he's really enjoying it) and then I can send it off, probably today or tomorrow. Yesterday, I managed to write 2,811 words, so I should only have to write another 500 or so be on track  for today's total. My novel is awesome and actually began with a great discussion between characters on death rites in each of their religions. It was a great scene that blew me away. As well, I'm continuing with my job as Lady of Best Lines, a task that has me posting a request for people to post their favourite lines in the thread to share with the group to help with our motivation!

I enjoy burning candles while I write. This year I picked up this one. It's gorgeous and smells like warm apple pie.

          I don't have too much else to add to this tonight, so I'll my exit and head off to finish those 500 words. #EitherWayKeepWriting #Nanowrimo

Stats!

It has been way too long, but I finally have some stats for you.

The original title for this novel was just "Kuzunoha's Story", which changed just before last Nanowrimo to Kitsune-Ken. Kitsune-Ken, while an awesome name, didn't really apply to just this story, so it became my series name. Just last month, the final name I chose suggested itself... Hunter.

Kitsune-Ken (狐県) is the name of a Japanese game. It's basically a type of rock, paper, scissors game, where your choices are Hunter, Fox, and Village Head, though I always remember it better as Lord. The game is played by making hand symbols, like in rock, paper, scissors, but instead of just one hand, you use both hands. To make the sign for Hunter, you move your hands to mimic holding a rifle. To make the sign for Fox, you put both hands up above your head as if they were a fox's ears. To make the sign for Lord, you sit up straight and lay both hands on your legs. In the game, the hunter beats the fox with his gun, the fox beats the lord by tricking him and the lord beats the hunter by being of a higher social class. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is also a version of this where players lose an article of clothing each time they lose a round.

Hunter was originally 175 pages long when finished and was 76,224 words long. The current version is only 169 pages and 65,263 words long. The original chapters were much longer; I only had 34 of them (and one was nearly 15 pages). The current version has chapters much closer to each other in length; about 4 pages average and has 41 chapters.

The first 17k were written during Nanowrimo nearly two years ago. However, I admit that what I'd written was essentially trash and it sat around on my hard drive guilting me into doing something with it. At When Words Collide 2015, I started playing with it again and apparently had sudden realized what was supposed to happen. I worked on that first 17,000 words and applied essentially heavy cutting and editing techniques before nano and cut it down to nearly 10 of words that would need to be re-written, but would do as a starting place. During Nanowrimo, I wrote another 68,635. but somewhere between 1,000 and 4,000 of it was notes on characters, places or future storylines that didn't fit within the bounds of this novel.

Kuzunoha is the main character and she has the lion's share of the chapters at 21 out of 41. Richard is the next biggest character in the story with 13 chapters. Skylla has 3 and Jocelin and Himiko both have 2. This means for all of you that want a lot of female viewpoints in your books that about 2/3 of this novel is written from a female viewpoint!

And I think that's where I'll stop. Do you guys have any questions about it?

Well, that's all she wrote...

Well, that's it, that's all she wrote, I'm done.
Except that you're never really done when you're creative. There's always another book to write, another picture to draw, another song to create... there's always something more to do.
I am finished with Hunter, the first book of my Kitsune-Ken series. I've sent it out to beta readers (though really another one or two would be helpful) and I'm waiting for them to get back to me on it. With their aid and suggestions, hopefully I can make it even better. Then its a quick trip to a professional editor, while I work on covers and figure out how the publishing world works and...
Like I said, there's always another thing to do when you're creative. This book will hopefully be released just before Christmas this year, though I'll have to adjust that after I find out more from the editor.
In addition to that, I'm planing on what's going to happen in book 3 of this series. I'm going to be writing it during Nanowrimo this year, so another thing on my authory plate.
I will have stats for you... total word count, chapter from a female/male pov, average chapter length... interesting things like that. But for right now, I've been enjoying my rest. Reading, video games, giving blood... I even hosted a painting night!
Soon enough, I'll be back to work, planning, writing short stories, and doing other assorted authorly things. But for this week, there is rest and sleep and relaxation.
What do you guys do to relax after finishing a huge project? Do you have any suggestions for any great books for me to add to my reading list?

Timelines

          Its going to be a very quick update today, and since I'm Canadian, I'll apologize in advance. I have a day job that buys 8.5 hrs of my life on a near-to-daily schedule and I was running a pathfinder game when I got home. Finally, I have a sick husband to take care of and while I married a wonderfully competent husband, it is that little bit extra to put a cherry on an already busy day. 

          Anyways,  I have now finished my excel chapter-by-chapter run down on Monday morning. I spent the next day and a half working on the timeline for my novel. Once again, technology saved me! I have always had trouble making them on paper and despite its many uses, Scrivener is just not my thing. I find it distracts rather than enhances my working environment. Fortunately, Excel was able to come to my rescue yet again. 

          Most of my issue with paper is that I always end up wanting to move what I've come up with and on paper, it just isn't possible without scissors. On the other hand, Excel allows you to pick up cells and move them wherever you want them to go, you can create a new line wherever you want...  overall, it works really well. In addition to figuring out a timeline from a century prior up to present day in my novel, I was able to name characters and figure out what my characters names will be. 

          I still have the timeline during the space of my novel to work on, but I think that I will add those in as I actually work on the chapters, which will also allow me to change it as needed. 

          I'm going to cut today's post of here though. I had a wicked idea for where to start the first chapter and I'd like to get some of this work edited today. 

The Road Not Taken

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by, 

And that has made all the difference

-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

          I don't know if I could honestly say this is my favourite poem by Robert Frost, though he is hands down my favourite poet. Fire & Ice, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Take Something Like a Star, even the old fan favourite, Nothing Gold Can Stay... these are epic poems; beautiful, simple and powerful. Still, the one above is the one that I'm resonating with today.

          As a writer, you want the passion and power seen in Fire & Ice. However for editing... you want something calming and The Road Not Taken has that in spades, as well as the feeling of discovery and that unnameable (or at least, that I know of) feeling that we may have missed out on something great due to our choices, while still being happy with our choices.

          Editing is that feeling intensified. 

          Its my favourite part of the process actually, taking something that sucks and making it great. Though I am left sometimes wondering at the roads I didn't take, the paths I didn't follow. Would they still be there if I went back? The words would be, but I don't know if the same burst would come to me, wavering my conviction. 

          In the end, as Linkin Park says, it doesn't really matter.  You need to choose a path and follow it to the end. Going back to the beginning just to see could-have-beens may be interesting, but you can't live there (though I feel a short story burgeoning through me with that line).

          In my editing this week, I made a decision to delete a character. Inarguably important to the creation of my main character, he no longer had a place in my novel. I replaced him and felt almost fragmented. I will never, except in memory, in past writings, see that character again. 

          And I, I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

          Lets go make a difference.

Read Through Editing: 30/110 or 28% completed

Finally Done!

          Yes, you read that right! Things are finally moving! I finished Kitsune-Ken, Book II on Tuesday and celebrated by having a bad movie night and dinner out with my husband. I'm sure that some of you want to know the exact details, so here they are. My final draft came out to 72k and after removing the obvious stuff (paragraphs and pages that needed to be written while I figured out where I was going but are obviously not going to be staying in the manuscript) that total came down to 68k. It is 127 pages in Microsoft Word, written in size 11 Calibri at 1.5 space between the lines. A bit shorter than my other novel, which I believe finished at 71k, but I know I'm missing a chapter or two so that total may get longer when I begin editing.

          Since finishing it, I've been taking time off from the books, instead working on more mundane things... designing business cards, registering my Press company name and such. As soon as I've purchased the cards, I'll save a picture and post them here! If I may say, they totally rock. It will probably be a week or two before I can post the picture. I'm holding off until I have registered my name and have created an email address.

          I can, at this point, let you guys know some of my good news. I will be attending When Words Collide in Calgary again this year. In fact, I may even be one of the presenters of a workshop dealing with uncommon world mythologies and how to incorporate them into your novels. Although nothing is set in stone just yet, my name is currently set with the workshop, barring limited interest or scheduling issues, I should be a presenter this year. I will also be attending the banquet this year! The theme is steampunk and if you haven't made a decision on whether the banquet is right for you, consider it!

          I think I'll have to stop here though and tell you more later. I can say that I have begun editing Kitsune-Ken, Book I and as soon as I have figured out how much work it should take, I'll update you on how long editing will be taking. If all goes according to plan, I may have it all finished for an early fall release date... Keep your fingers crossed!